Seaman recalls how, in the Royal Albert Hall, "it was creepy how quiet this absolute army of people would become as soon as you were ready to start the music".
All of which is part of a "sense of occasion that can really open people up to music," he explains.
"They might come along to hear Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem, experience the Tchaikovsky and the Elgar Sea Pictures and then make the decision to go to more concerts."
As for the traditional Proms merriment, which includes Medlyn as a redoubtable Britannia, "I'm a reasonably good sport," Seaman laughs.
"I once ended up with a streamer on the end of my baton and the only solution was to give it a bit of a twirl like a majorette."
Batons are certainly busy when I catch Seaman taking an APO conducting workshop with a group of young Australian students.
Relaxing afterwards, he makes it clear that nothing can take the place of learning on the job.
"I can give them the basics but I can't give them two years' experience with an orchestra," he shrugs. "That is the difficult thing - for them to be able to learn and develop as they work."
Seaman is as entertaining as the most urbane of dinner party guests, especially on his own career breaks.
It all started when a school teacher directed him to play timpani because "you get a good view, have a lot of responsibility, see and hear everything and have the courage to come in like a ton of bricks when the conductor is not clear".
"Best of all," Seaman adds with a chuckle, "you have lots of bars of rest".
Eventually he was drawn to conducting, realising that he "wanted to stand in the midst of all that talent, get my hands on the music and shape it".
Yet it was a "long journey from beating time like a good boy to the stage where you're doing your own thing", and Seaman is illuminating on the range of conductors he has experienced, "from the crystal-clear to the unfollowable, who were so often dull as well".
Seaman appeared with the APO just last year, conducting a memorable concert of Vaughan Williams, Mozart and Sibelius and the Englishman relishes the challenge of "bonding with an orchestra quickly over a period of four or five days".
"They're all individual," he adds. "Their 'on' switch is in a slightly different place and, if the chemistry matches up, you can get wonderful results."
This visit has seen him working with the youngsters of the APO's new Sistema Aotearoa programme at Otara Music Arts Centre.
"This orchestra is visionary," he enthuses. "We take music for granted but, in fact, it raises you to be a better person and have a better life. And these youngsters now have the chance to realise that potential."
What: The Last Night of the Proms.
Where: Auckland Town Hall.
When: Wednesday at 8pm.
